Lifelines
by njiahe
Summary: Seijuro has never met anyone who doesn't swim until her. It feels wrong that she doesn't swim, especially so because she was his ideal type.
1. Ideal

[ Chapter One : Ideal ]

"What do you mean you don't swim?" Seijuro asked in disbelief.

He felt as if someone had slapped him in face when the girl across from him told the group about her inability to swim.

The girl made a confused face at his outburst. She stopped talking to just stare at him. "It's exactly like it sounds?" She wasn't too sure about how to answer him. Plus, the wide eyed look on his face didn't help.

"Mikoshiba, c'mon." One of the guys groaned, regretting that he invited the swimmer to the gokuon with the girls from Amezuka Academy.

"No. What do you mean?" Seijuro pressed on. He has never met anyone who doesn't swim. "Do you not like pools? The sea? What? Water?" Seijuro was genuinely curious as to why she doesn't swim.

"In a sense, yes." The girl answered cautiously. She looked to her friend's for help but they could only make a sorry face and mouth an apology. She turned back to the conversation with a frown, not happy about the turn of events (caused by her friends).

One of the guys glared at Seijuro, who could only sit in disbelief. He's been to plenty gokuons but this was the first time he's ever been this worked up about a girl And swimming. Usually, the two don't mix. Seijuro suddenly sat back in silence; he decided to stop asking her about the swimming issue, despite his burning interest to continue asking her.

The other guys took it as their cue to move the topic elsewhere. "So, are you girls in any clubs?"

"Oh! Well, I'm in the Volleyball club." One of the other girls started, which got the guys to make a bunch comments about her height. Seijuro could only stare at the girl-that-doesn't-swim; the girl squirmed a bit from the intense stare. Seijuro noticed that the girl was fidgeting but didn't really understand why, and the glances she kept sending him. Maybe it was his stare; he's been told that he had shark eyes (whatever that is suppose to mean).

"What about you, Sakata-chan?"

Sakata bit her lip, nerves firing up and she answered with a quick, "Gardening club."

The guys nodded, commenting how it was a cute hobby until Sakata panicked and said, "Sei-chan is part of the Baking club," before turning to 'Sei-chan' and apologizing.

Sei gave her friend a half-hearted glare, she was just in the hot seat for not swimming and now they directed the other side to her again? "Sei-chan?" One of the guys repeated with a smile. "How cute." He continued, pleased that he got the girl blushing now. "What's your specialty?" He continued. At this point, the group started to divide in conversation. Everyone seemed happy with who they naturally paired off with except for a trio.

"Well, um.. Japanese sweets are my favorite." Sei offered a slight smile.

Seijuro turned his head, causing Sei to tilt her head in confusion. 'What did I do to the him?' she wondered and then shifted her body towards the other boy. Ever since the swimming outburst, he's been treating her like she doesn't exist.

Suddenly, the guy's friend's phone went off. Looking at it, he sighed and placed it back into his pocket for going back to the conversation with Sei. As the conversation continued, the phone went off again and once again, the guy looked at his phone and sighed. "Is everything okay?"

"Uh, yeah. That was my sister. She can wait though." He smiled, just as his phone went off again. Sei giggled.

"It's okay. It's probably something important." Sei told him, giving him permission to leave the group. He was ready to object then his phone rang again.

He started to stand and furrowed his eyebrows, bothered that his opportunity to talk to Sei was shortened. "Damn. Sorry about this. Let's meet up again?" He said hopefully. Sei nodded and watched as he walked off but then she remembered, the red-haired guy was still sitting in front of her.

Seijuro watched with conflicted feelings. Sei was his ideal girl; hell, even their names are made for each other. The only problem was that he didn't know where she stood on the water front. Can she not swim? He could fix that. If she doesn't want to swim though, that's a different issue. Just as his friend was leaving, Seijuro said "You're too cute for these problems."

Sei blushed. "H-hey!" His friend said, not liking where his potential new-girlfriend could be going. He isn't stupid enough to believe Sei wouldn't go to Seijuro. Honestly, within the group of guys, Seijuro was the most popular among girls. Just as he was about to try and fix the situation, his phone rang again. "Dammit... Mikoshiba, don't try anything!"

"You lose for leaving first!" Seijuro teased, laughing at his friend's expense.

Sei huffed, feeling a little offended that the two of them were treating her like a game. "What's your problem? First, you act all crazy because I said that I don't swim. Then you give me the cold shoulder. Lastly, that comment." Sei said, through gritted teeth. More than a little angry, Sei stands up and grabbed her coat. "I'm leaving now. Thank you for having me." She said curtly and spun on her heel.

Seijuro watched at his ideal girl storm out and couldn't help but even admire the way she did it. 'She really is cute,' he thought before rushing to follow her out.

Sei's anger made the biting wind all the more harsh. She was starting to regret wearing a skirt to the gokuon. Thinking back to the whole thing, Sei was really disappointed. The red-haired guy, Mikoshiba (she thinks was his name), was very attractive but somewhat rude.

She kicked a little pebble before feeling a hand clasp around her shoulder. Instinctively, she swung her elbow back and she heard a grunt. Turning to face her attacker, she had to do a double take. "Mikoshiba?"

He laughed a little through his pain before saying, "you remember my name. I'm so happy."

"Oh dear lord, someone must be playing a trick on me right now." Sei groaned, she wasn't expecting anyone to come after her, much less Mikoshiba. "What do you want? Haven't you made your point already?"

Standing up, he rubbed the oblique that Sei struck and smiled. "You have a nice swing, Sei-chan!" Sei blushed.

"You're being too familiar!"

"Oh?" Seijuro crossed his arm, a little disappointed that Sei was glowering at him instead of having a pleased look. "You can just call me Seijuro than." He offered, excited that his name could be coming out of the girl's mouth.

Sei blushed and stepped back. "That's too sudden! What are you even doing here?"

Seijuro frowned, disappointed that she didn't drop the formality. "Well, I wanted to apologize. I realize that I must have sounded a little crazy but I have honestly never met anyone that doesn't swim." He said, laughing a little at his own expense. He planned on making it a concious effort to think before he speaks. He gave Sei a hopeful look, hoping that she doesn't turn him away before he can at least apologize.

"Well, I'm sorry for elbowing you." Sei said, accepting his apology.

"Don't worry about. It's an honor to receive your elbow... No matter how painful." Seijuro laughed. Sei's eyebrows knitted together, 'is he serious?' "I'm sorry about earlier. I would repeat myself but I have a feeling that you would get annoyed."

Sei tilted her head and crossed her arms. "Is there something wrong with you?" She asked, curious about why Seijuro speaks and acts the way he does.

"Ah. You've caught me. I always act like this around a cute girl." He smiled. Sei blushed at his compliment. "So... I have a proposition for you. Interested?" He said, eyebrows raised. Sei scoffed and turned around to head home.

"No. Goodnight, Mikoshiba."

"It'll benefit you!" He yelled after her.

Sei shook her head and waved her hand without turning to face him. 'What a strange guy,' she thought.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

This is really presumptuous and I'm pretty sure that no one remembers but I use to publish stories on here. I've since changed my name multiple times. Anyways, this is a really short story. I've always love Seijuro and never really got around go to shipping KouxSeijuro.


	2. Reluctant

[ Chapter Two : Reluctant ]

"Sei-chan!"

"I'm not talking to you, Fuu! You threw me under the bus yesterday at the Gokuon!" Sei huffed, hurrying to class as her friend followed behind her. "First you bring up swimming, and then my club activity?" Sei finally reached her classroom. The gokuon yesterday was still fresh on her mind.

Originally, Sei wasn't going to attend, claiming that she had other things to do, such as studying, (which, wasn't the case as Fumi found out) but after one of the original girls dropped out, Fumi pleaded and ended up forcing Sei to come along. Her one condition while being there was to only fill the body count and that she wasn't considered a real participant. Sei wanted to just act as the support character but she found herself in the spot light.

"Seeii-chan!" Fumi pleaded as Sei pouted at her desk. "I'm sorry! I panicked and I had to divert the attention." Sei glared at her friend. Rumi clasped her hands together and apologized. "Sei-chan, please. I have some good news!" Fumi came around and wrapped her arms around Sei's neck. "Seeeiii!" Fumi continued to whine, now shaking Sei side to side.

"Wwwhaaat?" Sei finally gave in, more annoyed now that she was starting to feel dizzy.

Fumi stopped before coming back around with a grin. "I got a boyfriend!" After the mentioned word, the other girls started to crowd around them.

"Really, Sakata?"

"What school does he go to?"

"Is he cute?"

Sei sighed as the girls crowded around Fumi, sometimes she really regrets picking an all-girls school to attend but other times (like yesterday's gokuon, she doesn't even want to imagine what it would be like to attend school with guys like him) she was really grateful. Sei watched as Fumi happily answer everyone's question.

At lunch, Sei asked Fumi about her boyfriend. "Is it one of the guys from yesterday?" Sei nibbled on the straw to her drink. Fumi blushed and nodded. "Is it... What's his name? Hi-hi-hijikata?" Sei furrowed her brows; she didn't really get to talk to any of the other guys other than Mikoshiba and his friend, whom she realized didn't offer his contact information.

Fumi sighed, used to her friend's constant mix-up of names. "His name is Himuro." Fumi pouted.

"Oh... Is he the one with the mole under his eye?" Sei asked, thinking about who Fumi had talked to at the gokuon. Fumi gave her friend a blank stare. "What?" Sei asked, noticing Fumi's stare.

Fumi closed the lid to her bento and sighed, "you notice the weirdest things about people." Sei smiled and shrugged. "But, yes. He's amazing!"

Sei gave her friend a look and said, "You've only been dating for a day, Fuu." Fumi pouted.

Fumi Sakata's relationship status spread through the school like a wildfire. From first years to third years, they whispered. Fumi seemed to like the attention, Sei noted. She didn't understand how a student being in a relationship was significant; it would've happen sooner or later but the girls at Amezuka is treating it like a miracle. "Isn't this a little much?" Sei asked, watching as everyone turned to look at Fumi.

"You'll never understand it, Sei-chan." Fumi laughed, and Sei couldn't have agreed more.

Class had ended by the time Fumi suggested they pay a visit to Samezuka. "Why?" Sei asked, wondering why she had to follow along when there was no interest for her at Samezuka. Fumi took hold of Sei's uniform sleeve. Sei looked up at Fumi, feeling like their appearances don't exactly match their roles. "Fuu, please don't stretch my sleeve." Sei sighed, her tone told Fumi that she'll come with her to Samezuka. With a cheer, Fumi went to go switch her indoor shoes.

"Sei-chan, you should look for a boyfriend. You'll be so much happier!" Fumi said en route to Samezuka. Sei furrowed her eyebrows and gave her friend a curious look. Fumi didn't notice and started to give "advice" to Sei about hooking guys.

Sei sighed, at first she was going to let Fumi get the need to give advice out of her system, seeing as she was happy and excited about her boyfriend but it quickly got annoying. A flash of red caught Sei's eyed and she turned her head a bit to see long, red hair swinging back and forth. The shade of red kind of reminded her of a certain swimmer and the girl was wearing the second year uniform from Amezuka. As they continued walking, Sei noticed that they all were heading to the same place.

As soon as they reached the gates, Sei looked at the campus decorations. It was simple, Sei noted, the few times she's been to Samezuka before was for their school festivals and joint field studies. Both times, the campus was somewhat decorated to fit the theme.

Without thinking, Sei ended up walking away from Fumi, who didn't notice that her friend was not by her side. Sei started to roam, looking at the landscape which consisted of trees, bushes, and ponds. It was different from Amezuka because the gardening club planted lots of flower bed. The sound doors opening caught her attention. Looking around, she noticed a door starting to close. The few times she's been on Samezuka campus didn't let her explore far. Feeling more curious than usual, Sei followed through the door.

If only she could feel the regret before walking through the door and the smell of chlorine wafted towards her.

A pool sat in front of her. Cautiously, she stepped towards the blue substance. Stopping at the entrance that separated the pool from the hallway, she just stared. She couldn't move her feet even though she wanted to.

Seijuro watched as his team started their laps. "Nii-san," a soft voice called out to him.

"Ryuna? Something wrong?" Seijuro turned to his sister while in the water. She crouched down.

Ryuna shook her head and pointed to the pool entrance. Seijuro turned to the direction his sister was pointing out and nearly slipped in the water. At the entrance stood a pale Sei, watching as the team continued their excercise. "She's been like that for the past five minutes." Seijuro grinned and pulled himself out of the pool. Not bothering to wipe down, Seijuro walked towards Sei.

Sei stood, paralyzed, by the body of water in front of her.. She could feel her test tighten at the sight of the big school pool. The feeling of her clothes on her skin became unbearable, almost constricting. A dizziness was starting to overcome her. Her eyes focused on the pool (of dread, she named it) but suddenly a blur stepped in front of her. Her eyes snapped away from the pool and she looked up. "Sei-chan! What brings you by?" The red-haired boy grins. Sei went from being pale to tomato-red in the face. "Woah! You're getting really red!"

"S-shut up, Mikoshiba." Sei flushed, feeling a little uncomfortable about the near-naked boy, who happens to still be wet from the pool.

Seijuro laughed, not the slightest bothered by Sei's cold behavior. "Stop flirting, Captain!" One of the swimmers shouted from the sidelines with a smile. Seijuro shook his head with a smile. Another one of the guys came up to the two of them. "Woah, is this your girlfriend?" He asked, swinging his arm around Seijuro's shoulders. Sei blushed and frowned as Seijuro laughed.

"Hopefully. This is Sei-chan from Amezuka." Seijuro introduced her. "This is Yamada, Vice-Captain." Sei turned to the girl with a slight frown and bowed. Yamada nodded and then turned to his captain.

Sei bit her lip, glad that there was a figurative wall between her and the water but having two nearly naked men standing in front of her was uncomfortable. "It seems like I'm interrupting your practice. Excuse me." She said, turning to leave. Leaving the pool area, Sei let out a relieved sigh and started to look for Fumi.

"Senpai?"

Sei turned to the person that called out to her. It was the second-year that she saw on the way to Samezuka with Fumi. "Um.. Yes?" Sei stopped to look as the red-haired girl bowed.

"Please excuse my brother. He doesn't know how to hold his tongue."

Sei blinked, 'brother?' "Mikoshiba... Is your brother?" The girl nodded.

"Also, don't take him too seriously. He really likes cute things." She added, causing Sei to frown.

"Um.. It's okay, Mikoshiba-chan. Well, I have to leave now." Sei hastily ended the conversation. "I'll see you around." The girl nodded and Sei walked towards the gates. Heading home, Sei frowned a bit. She felt a little hurt that Mikoshiba seemed to treat every girl he deemed cute like this.

Ryuna watched as her senior left the Samezuka campus as her brother walked up to her. "Yo, Ryuna! Did you see Sei-chan?" Seijuro asked, as Ryuna looked at him and noticed that he had put on his track suit.

"Yes. She was heading home. Nii-san, you need to stop your nasty habit." Ryuna frowned.

Seijuro's eyebrows rose. "What habit?" He crossed his arms.

"It's really bad that you don't know." Ryuna shook her head at her brother's oblivious face. "You'll get divorced one day if you don't change it."

"Ryuna! Talking about divorce, are you trying to wish me bad luck?" Seijuro laughed, taking the comment as a joke.

"Seriously, Nii-san. I feel bad for the woman who marries you."

* * *

**Author's Note:  
**

I know on my profile I said I would post on the weekend (and it is the weekend) and that it would take a week to write but I'm getting the first few chapters out because they're relatively slow. Also, Mikoshiba has a sister but I'm not sure what (or whether) she's been named yet and so right now Ryuna is another one of his sisters.


	3. Sudden

[ Chapter Three : Sudden ]

For some unexplained reason, Sei keeps running in the red-haired swim captain from Samezuka.

"Yo! Sei-chan!" He waved at her from the school gates. Sei blushed as the other girls looked at her; some showed a lot of excitement for the possible new couple and others glared at Sei out of jealousy. Walking towards him, Sei decided to walk past him instead and ignore him. "Wait! Sei-chan is so mean!" He said. Sei felt her eyebrow twitch as he addressed her. "You didn't even greet me, Sei-chan."

Sei stopped and turned to face him. But he didn't notice her stop and ended up walking right into her face. Sei blushed and stepped back, she tilted her head. She peered up at him with a squint. She noticed that he was staring down at her with a curious expression. Clearing her throat, Sei took another step back and said, "Why do you keep saying my name? We're not even that close!" Seijuro blinked before a slight smirk played at his lips.

"We could be." He said in a rather suggestive tone. Sei could feel all the blood rushing to her face. She glared at him. Grinning again, Seijuro said "You can call me Seijuro. The offer still stands." He leaned into Sei's face. Sei was starting to feel feverish and leaned back away from his face.

"D-don't you have swimming practice today?" She asked, pulling her knapsack higher so that it stood as a small wall between the two of them. Seijuro noticed that she was trying to put some distance between them and so he stood up straight.

"Don't worry about that. Let me walk you home?" Seijuro pleaded with wet eyes (Sei couldn't really tell with the sun shining from his back). Sei bit her lip, a little nervous. Nobody's ever walk her home before. Shifting her weight, she stared at him. "C'mon... Let me walk you home today and I'll stop calling you 'Sei-chan'!" The offer seemed almost too tempting. She gave him a suspicious look. "I'm not a stalker." He said, eyebrow raised at her look.

"Fine. Do whatever you want." Sei conceded. Sei thought about running but she was sure that he would be able to catch up with her in seconds. Seijuro grinned and swiftly took the knapsack from her hands. "WHAT are you doing?" Sei started with a shrill and a look of bewilderment. Seijuro waved his hand to dismiss her question.

"Which way?" Seijuro looked at her. Sei cautiously pointed in the direction that they need to go. Grinning, Seijuro started to follow Sei as she started walking.

The walk was unbearably silent. Sei felt a bare without the knapsack in her hand. "You are so strange." Sei finally broke the silence.

"Why do you say that?" Seijuro looked at the smaller girl.

Sei crossed her arms. "You're obviously very popular. So why me?"

Seijuro shrugged, he didn't think he was that popular. If any one was popular it would be that second year on his swim team, he thought with a slight scoff. "Who knows?" He mused. "Then what about you?"

Sei quirked an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"Well, you're a cute girl. I'm sure there are guys fighting for your attention." Sei blushed at Seijuro's compliment. "Although, I wish you'd give me more of a chance..." Sei turned her head in embarrassment.

"You are shameless." She muttered. Seijuro laughed.

"It's not shameless if you're confident."

Sei stayed quiet. She wasn't sure how to talk to the red-haired boy. The rest of the walk to Sei's house was in comfortable silence. Seijuro was already extremely happy that he was able to walk his dream girl home. Sei, however, actually forget that Seijuro was walking next to her and instead let her mind wander. "Thank you for walking me home." Sei thanked the tall boy with a smile.

Seijuro beamed, liking how Sei looked when she smiled. "Sure thing, Sei!"

"I thought you'd stop th- Wait... Did you just trick me?" Sei asked, her head tilted as she looked at the golden eyed boy. When he said he'd stopped calling her 'Sei-chan', he meant that he would just drop the honorific?

Seijuro laughed before waving as he walked backwards away from her. "See you tomorrow, Sei!"

Sei could only sigh, not wanting to fight with such a stubborn guy. Turning, she started to walk to her door then realized something wasn't in her hands. Her knapsack!

Did this mean that she had no choice but to see him again?

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

Super short update, simply because we're still in the build-up. Also because I want the opening to be slower when it's compared what I have planned. I might break my predicted 10 chapters though. Who knows yet? But seriously, if anyone if reading these footers, please tell me if you want them to speed up a little bit [_or if you have any ideas or even better, requests! I love writing requests but those can wait until later.] _I'll let everyone know when that'll happen later. Please pray that I finish this soon. _(joking)_


	4. Prepare

[ Chapter Four : Prepare ]

'I need to hurry.'

With her eyes on the ground, Sei walked briskly from the gate towards the windowed building. The hiss of whispers could be heard as she walked pass them. "Is she lost?" She could hear one clearly and knew that they were talking about her. Mainly because she was walking across the Samezuka campus as the boys were starting their morning clubs.

Sei had woken up early just to get her knapsack back from Mikoshiba. It didn't take long for her to reach the building that housed the school pool. Stopping at the entrance, Sei closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Immediately, she regretted it because of the faint smell of chlorine still wafted from between the crack of the door. She grimaced but nonetheless opened the door and took a step in. She paused for a bit, feeling a little tense already.

From her side, she could hear the hustling of feet and talking, which told her that they were still changing out. Gathering what little courage she had left, she went straight to the pool area. "Sei?" She nearly screamed when they called her name. Turning around, she saw that it was the vice captain. "Sorry for being so familiar." He said, realizing that he had called her by her first name.

"Uhm... It's fine..." She said, nervous because she realized that there is no longer an exit available with the vice-captain standing behind her. "I, uh, needed to speak to capt- Mikoshiba." She didn't know what to say because she is so nervous now.

He nodded. "Mikoshiba's talking to the coach right now but you can sit over there until he comes back." He pointed to a seat nearby. Sei bit her lip and started to look for a clock, wondering how much time has passed since she stepped on the Samezuka campus. "Are you busy? I can just give him a message if you need to leave." The vice captain noticed that Sei was looking for a clock by the way her eyes went over his head and around the walls.

"No.. I, uh. I need to talk to him." The vice captain's eyebrows rose and Sei flushed, embarrassed at how nervous she sounded. "I'll take a seat now.. Thanks." She said, walking rather stiffly to the seat the vice captain had pointed out earlier. Taking a seat, Sei fidgeted because sitting in this seat was the closest she's been to a pool since she was five years old. Also because the vice captain keeping glancing at her.

From far away Sei looked incredibly awkward sitting at the poolside. Her back didn't touch the rest behind her, her knees pulled together, with hands clenched, and a nervous tapping of her feet made her incredibly noticable.

Sei looked at nothing but her hands for a bit but then felt a little uncomfortable in the silence. She looked up planning to strike up a conversation with the vice captain but he had disappeared. She didn't even remember his name, so she couldn't just call out to him. Instead, she stayed in her seat and realized that she was doing really well around the water. Before she could dwell on it any more, a door from the far end pulled open and a familiar red-head came into the area. She started to stand up and walked towards him but he was talking to who she assumed was the coach. Slowly, she headed towards the Seijuro, gauging when his conversation would end.

Seijuro nodded as the coach concluded the topic about the new cover-ups that the team was getting. The coach was walking away just as Yamada walked up to with the stop watches. "Hey, your girlfriend is here." He jerked his head towards the general direction that Sei sat in. Seijuro laughed.

"She's not my girlfriend." As soon as his sentence finished, a splash was heard and the clamoring from the team went silent. Seijuro instantly turned is attention to the pool and instinctively took a running start to dive into the pool.

It was too late, when Sei noticed that she tripped. She got caught in the stampede of boys coming in for their practice. Although they ran around her, she was side-stepping as a reflex and then she tripped.

Her brain went blank and when the back of her uniform started to moisten, she clenched her eyes and with a sharp intake, she broke the surface. The last thing she noticed before she saw black was a pair of golden eyes.

Seijuro surfaced the water and with a tug, pulled Sei to him so that her head was above the water. Yamada was right at the edge and yelling, "Get towels!" It didn't take long for Seijuro to reach the edge and Yamada had pulled Sei out before Seijuro pulled himself out of the water. Laying her on her back, Yamada checked her breathing. "She didn't take in water but she's not breathing." He said, before he readied to do an artificial respiration. "One-two. One-" Not even through the second pump, Sei coughed.

Sei groaned with her eyes closed. "Why am I wet?" She groaned, slightly opening her eyes.

"You fell into the water." Seijuro was the one that answered her. Yamada looked at his captain, he wasn't aware that Seijuro was crouching down beside them. The team had circled around them and just watched; many had no idea what they should have done and others were just in awe at how well the situation was handled with.

"Good job, idiots." Some snarled from the circle.

Sei sat up and looked at the team. The one that had said the comment had red hair also but it was a different shade than what she then color she was used to. "Rin." Seijuro frowned at the other red-head. He shrugged and turned his back away from them, causing Seijuro to shake his head. "Are you okay?" Sei nodded but then groaned.

"I think you put too much pressure." Sei said, rubbing at her diaphragm.

Yamada rolled his eyes. "Sorry. Couldn't help it at the moment." Yamada than straightened himself and clapped his hands once. "Okay, let's start the warm-ups!" He shooed the team away. Seijuro unzipped his jacket and shrugged it off before handing it to her with a sigh.

"But it's wet?" She said, tilting her head.

Seijuro laid it across her shoulders anyways. "It's better than your uniform at the moment." Sei gasped and wrapped herself with his wet jacket. She had forgotten that Amezuka used a suit-style uniform and the button-downs were thin.

Yamada laid a hand on Seijuro's shoulder and said, "Go change or do something. I'll run the morning practice."

At first Seijuro protested a bit but then after being forcibly kicked out by Yamada, Seijuro grabbed some towels. "Let's go to my room. I'll lend you some clothes." She was a little freaked out by his calm behavior, so she only nodded at his suggestion and followed him. She silently followed him to his room.

Standing at the entry, she glanced around his dorm room and realized that it was pretty normal; although there was something weird about the wall next to his bed, like something was recently removed. Seijuro dug around his dresser, wondering if he even had clothes small enough for Sei to wear. "Please say something." Sei muttered, now uncomfortable with the silence.

"What were you doing here?" He asked, finally finding a shirt that could fit.

Sei gripped at his jacket. "I came to get my knapsack, you didn't return it yesterday."

"I gave it to Ryuna yesterday. She was going to give it to you today." He didn't look at her. Sei felt stupid. "Here." He said, handing her a t-shirt. Sei furrowed her eyebrows and accepted the t-shirt anyways. "I'm not mad at you. Just worried, okay?"

Sei blushed. "I-I didn't think you were mad at me."

"You make the same face Ryuna does when she thinks I'm mad at her. Do I look scary when I'm worried or something?" Seijuro muttered the last part.

Sei laughed softly, which caused Seijuro to smile. "You are something, Seijuro-kun."

Seijuro could practically melt at this moment.

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

Wow. I'm happy that people are liking the pace. I'm trying keep it at an even pace. So THANK YOU for the reviews, you two (MikomiCosplay and mimichiro)! I'm also trying hard to stay on schedule with this story because I'm still in school (17 credits!) and I work too. I've only done light proofreading on all the chapters. Sometimes I even read the chapters over and over again and I find all these mistakes, I'm thankful that you guys are being lenient with me. I really want to go through the first chapters and do a complete overhaul but if I start going through it now, I'll end up changing everything.


	5. Relationship, Part 1

[ Chapter Five : Relationship, Part One ]

_"The number you are trying to reach is either turned off or disconnected. Please try again."_

Fumi groaned as the phone called failed for the umpteenth time. Fumi has been calling Sei on her cell phone for a good amount of time that morning.

Across the campus, in the second year building, Sei was handing something over to a girl. "Why do Senpai have Nii-san's shirt?" The red-haired girl asked, accepting the shirt anyways. Sei blushed, not really wanting to go into detail about what had happened yesterday. Ryuna then hands the knapsack back to Sei. "Nii-san didn't do anything suspicious did he?" Ryuna asked with wide-eyes.

"Suspicious?" Sei repeated. What exactly constituted as 'suspicious', she wondered. Then Ryuna stared, as if saying what she meant with her eyes. Sei blushed immediately. Even a prudish person can understand what Ryuna meant by the look she was giving. "No! N-no! God, Mikoshiba-chan. We didn't do anything. I got wet yesterday, and so Seijuro-kun lent me his shirt." Ryuna reeled back in horror. She didn't need that image of a wet Sei in her mind. Sei noticed the look of horror and tried to amend her sentence. "No! I meant that I fell into the pool and he lent me a change of clothes. Nothing. Else." Ryuna was still suspicious but nodded anyways. That story made more sense to her than the first one (that she had concocted).

Not long after that, Sei left the second year building; feeling much more drained than usual. She didn't expect Ryuna to be so ... There was no word she could think of that described her impression of the younger Mikoshiba. Sei ended up walking back to her classroom in thought.

"Sei-chan!" Fumi yelled before bounding up to the girl as she walked into the room.

Sei widened her eyes in surprise. "Fumi! W-what's wrong?"

"You! Didn't call me yesterday! I was worried. Your phone isn't working. Please don't leave me." Fumi went through phases as she tried to express her worries, which only caused Sei to sigh.

"Oh, Fumi. I'm fine as you can see." Sei reached up to pat the dramatic girl on the head. "By the way, I dropped my phone in the water. I need to go replace it."

"Let's go together!"

Sei took her seat and Fumi followed into the one in front of Sei. "I can't today. We're starting our orders today." Sei said, remembering that the Baking Club had just received a bunch of orders for cakes.

The Baking Club at Amezuka had two purposes: one, to provide basically free catering for events, and two, to prepare them for the career. Like most non-sports club at Amezuka, it was tailored into a workshop for the girls. If Samezuka was the Sport-King, then Amezuka was the Career-Queen. It was one of the main reasons that Sei chose the school. The school's unofficial motto is "You can never be too prepared for the future" because their official one was irrelevant.

Fumi pouted. "We haven't been able to hang out lately." Sei giggled.

"You have a boyfriend now, Fumi. I'm sure Hijikata-kun wants all your attention."

"Himuro. But you're my best friend." Fumi shook her head at the name mix-up. "Speaking of boyfriends. A little birdie told me that you came out of a boy's room yesterday." Fumi smiled. Could Sei possibly have a boyfriend, she wonders.

"Is that birdie, Hibird?"

"... Are you talking about Himuro?"

"Ah... Yes. Sorry."

"Their names are not even similar. Nor is Hijikata to Himuro."

Sei only smiled apologetically. Just the teacher decided to come in. "Everyone back to their seats please." Fumi frowned, wanting to ask more about the boy that Sei was seen with coming out of his room.

"We're not done, Sei-chan." Sei nodded.

Meanwhile at Samezuka, the boys in class 3-A have been a little curious to why the resident red-head is so giddy since yesterday. "You're scaring everyone, Mikoshiba."

It was a self-study period for the boys. Seijuro had his work book opened but didn't even glance at the words on the page. He could only think about yesterday morning. He felt like they have grown closer because of that incident.

"I just can't help it. She called me by my name, man." Seijuro beamed at his desk-mate, Norino.

Norino is the current soccer captain with a tenacious reputation. There has not been one game he's lost with a record of 35 wins to 13 draws in the span of three years he's been at Samezuka.

Norino punched Seijuro in the arm. "That's disgusting, stop it." Seijuro laughed, which only made Norino scowl. "I can't believe you. Swooping in when I left like that." Norino referred back to the gokuon that they had attended. He really had his eyes set on Chiaki Sei.

"Sorry. I had my eyes on her too."

Norino shook his head. "You're not sorry at all, Mikoshiba."

"That's correct." Seijuro laughed. "'Cause if you stayed, Norino, I wouldn't even have a chance to talk to her."

Norino frowned more, if only his sister hadn't called him. "Damnit, Mikoshiba! You need to set me up with one of her friends!"

"That would be awkward, since we're not dating." He said, scratching his chin.

Norino shifted his eyes in thought. "You're not together? How did you manage that?" He was sure that Sei would be dating the red-head now.

Seijuro shrugged. "She doesn't seem to be into me that way."

"So I can go after her?"

"When hell freezes over thrice." Seijuro said with a straight face. Norino scoffed.

He turned back to his workbook and said, "That was uncalled for."

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

Hey! Sorry, I meant to add this when I first posted this chapter but didn't have time. So if you are rereading this for whatever reason, this is new. I'm currently getting really busy and so I'm going to take a little longer to post between each chapter. Thank you for all the follows and favorites!


	6. Meet

**Author's Notes:**

I don't like having these notes at the beginning of a chapter but I felt this one is necessary. So first things first, I am incredibly sorry for the long wait. Like I've mentioned in the previous A/N, I'm really busy and so I've been trying to slam these out, work, study, and volunteer at the same time. In other words, I will be revisiting that title. I will continue this A/N at the bottom, so that you won't have to bother with a giant block of text (because if I were you, I'd get annoyed).

* * *

[ Chapter Six : Meet ]

"Um..." Sei shifted her feet as she stood in the doorway of her house. "Is something wrong, Mikoshiba-chan?" Sei's eyebrows scrunched at the sight of the young, red-haired girl. Behind her was someone new. Dressed in a navy blue gakuran, the red-haired boy looked at Sei with intense interest. Sei tilted her head when she noticed his smirk.

"Heh... You're really cute." He attempted to step around Ryuna but was tripped instead. "What was that for, Ryuna-nee?" He shouted when he caught himself on all fours.

Ryuna frowned down at the boy on the ground. "Momo, behave yourself." Ryuna bumped the boy over before turning back to her senior. Sei just watched and from what she gathered, the boy was the younger brother. "Good morning, Sei-senpai." Ryuna said with a bow. Sei nodded and awkwardly bowed in response. The siblings were such a contrast and it was a little hard to process so early in the morning.

"Yes, good morning, Mikoshiba-chan."

"C'mon! Let's hurry and ask her." The red haired boy exclaims from behind his sister. Sei took a half-step back to prevent herself from being hit as the siblings struggle to stand in front of the door way. Ryuna, with one mighty push, knocked Momotarou down before straightening her clothes and throwing her hair over her shoulder. "That's hurts..." Momotarou whined as he sat up on the ground.

"Is he okay?" Sei asked, looking as the red-haired boy sniffle and slowly get up.

Ryuna waved her hand, "he's fine. He takes after Onii-san, so nothing hurts him." Sei took some time to process her statement before nodding. "I'm sorry for appearing so early in the morning, but Onii-san wanted me to invite you to his swim meet later this afternoon." Ryuna sighed, and lightly pushed Momotarou, who had just gotten back up.

Sei thought the invitation over, a little embarrased about the last she was at Samezuka. "Sorry, Mikoshiba-chan but I don't feel up to it. Please tell Seijuro-kun that I'm sorry and I'll make it up to him." Sei refused, hoping that she wouldn't ask any questions.

Thankfully, Ryuna didn't but then a weird sound came from Momotarou. Sei jumped and Ryuna turned around with breakneck speed. _"Momo! Come quickly! It's an emergency!"_ Within seconds, Momotarou took out a walkie-talkie to reply before running off. "See you soon, Cutie!" Sei blushed as the energetic boy ran off with a laugh.

"Is he in some type of club, Mikoshiba-chan?"

Ryuna shook her head. "He just likes to pick up girls in his uniform. He says it's a challenge." Sei laughed.

Later that morning...

"So what did she say, Ryuna?" Seijuro asked as he sat at the poolside, watching as the staffers set up for the competition. Zipping and unzipping his track jacket, Seijuro watched as his sister lifted her head from her mobile phone.

"She isn't coming," Ryuna put her phone into her pocket and watched as her brother became crestfallen before she finished her sentence. "But I got her to think about it." Then Seijuro's face lit up like Christmas Eve.

"You're the best sister ever!" Seijuro grabbed the girl around her waist and lifted her off the ground. "I'll buy whatever you want!"

"Onii-san!" Ryuna squeaked as his grip tightened before he let her down. "My waist hurts..." Ryuna groaned, turning around only to bump into Momotarou. "When did you get here, Momo?" The boy shrugged before pulling out his phone to show her a picture. "A stag beetle?"

"Yeah! 7,35 cm!" Ryuna pushed his hand away and shuddered, the picture was a close up of the beetle. Seijuro congratulated the younger boy on his new discovery. "So when is that pretty Onee-chan coming?" Momotarou asked as he put his phone away.

Seijuro rose his eyebrows, who was he talking about? "Sei-senpai will be coming later." Ryuna answered, as she put her hands into her pocket. Momotarou nodded.

"I can't wait to see her again. She's really cute, ya know." Momotarou laced his hands together behind his head. Seijuro nodded in agreement, and noted how his brother seemed to have the same type as him.

"Dear lord... You two are so alike, it's not even funny." Ryuna shook her head. Then a light knock was heard from behind them. The three siblings turned around to see a familiar face waving at them from the entrance hall.

"I didn't know what you liked, so I made some simple stuff." Sei blushed as she handed Seijuro a lunchbox. Ryuna excused herself, while greeting Sei, who nodded in response. "I won't be able to make it to the actual meet. I felt a little bad for refusing and also for the other day." Sei rambled out of nervousness.

Seijuro had a tensed smile as he accepted the food, something Sei noticed but didn't want to bring up. "Thanks, Sei. I'm sure it's delicious." Seijuro gave her a crooked smile. A silence fell over them but no one seemed bothered by it other than Momotarou, who was waiting for the right time to talk to Sei. The right moment was apparently when Sei started to take her leave.

"Nee-chan, do you sw-?" Seijuro tugged the boy back behind him and Momotarou let out a choked sound. Sei frowned a bit. Momotarou rubbed his neck, "Why are you two hurting me so much today?" He whined, not used to his older siblings being so violent with him.

Ryuna, who had just came back from the bathroom, heard the whine from the smaller red-haired boy. "Because you have no tact, Momo. Just like a certain someone."

"Who?" Momotarou asked, curious about who his sister was comparing him too. Ryuna shook her head and muttered to herself before walking off with Momotarou following, asking about who she was comparing him too.

"Your siblings seem really fun." Sei said, watching the two younger ones. Seijuro nodded in agreement.

Seijuro then sighed, "They were so much cuter when they were younger. Of course, Ryuna is always cute." He said with a slightly prideful tone. Sei chuckled. "So you won't be coming to the meet? It's not because of..." Seijuro made some suggestive eyebrow movements before finishing, "you know.."

"No... Well, somewhat." Sei said, noticing the argumentative look on Seijuro's face, "I promised Fumi that would go shopping with her."

Seijuro made a face at the word shopping; the only time he liked shopping was when he was atheletic shopping. "That sounds unpleasant." He muttered before the throught processed in his mind.

Sei laughed. "Yes, well, I promised and I don't like breaking my promises."

* * *

**Author's Notes Cont'd.:**

So, thank you to all the people that have favorite'd or review'd or followed the story or me. Some may think this pace if very slow and drawn out but this is done very intently. On another note, this one would've been out faster if I hadn't rewritten this chapter over almost 4 times. I just kept scrapping the chapters because I didn't like the flow and the idea didn't fit the story I have in mind. So I know that the previous chapter was split into parts but the "parts" are not the same chapter but there are events that are titled the same. Seriously, thank you for sticking with this slow story for so long. My next story ( I already have it planned out) will be much more complicated and intense. I will reveal those details later.


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